Mashups: Structural characteristics and challenges of end-user development in web 2.0

Mashups are web applications combining content and functionality from different online sources via publicly available interfaces (e.g. API, RSS). This allows end-users to create new websites that dynamically combine services of existing providers. The website Programmable Web lists almost 800 such applications. Still, little work has analyzed their structural properties, design dimensions and socio-technical implications. In this paper we propose and apply a specific conceptual framework for analyzing and evaluating mashups. The results of an exploratory study identify current trends and a dominant design model of successful mashups as well as critical aspects, limitations and chances for future development. © Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag 2007.